The Republican journal., 1887-06-23
A Shady Side Of Society in Mexico
METHODS OF MEXICAN POLICEMEN. THE
TRADE OF ROBBERY AND ASSASSINATION.
[CurreSnonlcnce of the IoIlrnaLl

a Snady SIDE OF society IN MEXICO.
METHODS OF MEXICAN POLICEMEN. THE
| TRADE OF ROBBERY AND ASSASSINATION.
Correspondence of the Journal
CITY OF MENICo, 1887. 1t is popular be-
| lief in this cOuntry-bnt probably an errone-
Gus one-that no stranger ever comes to the
Mexican Capital without having his past his
tory and future plans thoroughly looked into
by the police and carefully recorded at head
quarters. BE that as it may, common thieves.
confidence men and foot-pa,is find little chance
in the streets of Mexico city. One never reads
here Of assault and battery eases. of highway
robberics or pocket-picking; but = as else
| whcrc-whc the little fishes are so carefully
guarded, the big ones Uhosc who steal gem
tcclly by thousand>) generally manage to es-
cape the nets.
! In this section the favorte stamping ground
| for criminals of all classes is just outside the
| city limits, in the Boulevard de la Reforma--
the magnificent driveway constructed by En-
peror Maximian as an avenue of approach to
his palace at Chapultepec. Brilliant as is the
scene it presents on every pleasant afternoon
when crowded with the beauty and fashion of
the Capital. it is neither safe nor pleasant
place after nightfall. Before Maximian's
day it was wild and desert suburb full of
| holloWs. hooks and hiding places, where more
murders and courtships were nightly conduct
| ed than in any other spot of equal size on the
continent. The McNicans have proverb,
| characteristic of the race, which runs ''Wherc
| women are, blood is not far or" Were not
| the modest moon so retcent of her secrets, she
| could tell
| STRANGE TALES OF NIGHTLY DOIN,:s
in that same Boulevard lie In Rcform;,. both in
| the past and present; for those strongest pas
| sions of poor human nature-love, hate, jea
| OnSy and greed-have not experienced much
''reform" since the world began. TO this
place used to HE the proud llidaleo, with his
trusty rapier, prompt to revenge some slight
| TO himself or preference shown to his rival by
a coquettish Senorita. llther, too, when twi-
| light let her curtain down and pinned it with
| star, came mysterious figures, with faces
| velOped in male serapes or female mantWdS.
| gliding swiftly to some trysting-placc. Here
| the trusted servant brought the perfumed bill
| let to the waitin" cavalier; or the dark-eyed
| beauty herself, with Il beating heart and the
| summer OF the climate in her blood, hastened
| TO the arms of her impatient lover. The out
| skirts of the Bouvelard are lined with some of
| the sWellest mansions of the aristocracy; and
even now occasional reports of pistols, the
| clash of rapiers. or groans of the da@ger's
| victim are borne to their windows on the same
| breeze with murmurs of tenderness, and no.
| body cares, or dares. to Investigate very
| closely.
| In the city proper. the police system is as
nearly perfect as anything in Mexico. At
every street corner. by night and day, Il pa
trolmah stands,-not exactly patron,n
| either. because he seldom moves. All day
| long he stands like n statue. ot,onIess and
| silent as Il wooden Indian, unless addressed
| by some paSSers by-When he answers all
| questions with the greatest urbanity. Should
row occur. however, within hearing dis
| tance, he Is off like shot to assist his fellows;
| or if one takes place in his beat two OF three
brother officers rush as promptly to his assist
| ance. 1t is not wise to get mixed up in any
kind of street disturbance in the City of Mtxi-
GO, for these silent and urbanc policemen are
| most
DISAGHEEABIE FELLOWS TO DEAL WITH.
They seldom Use their clubs, but in apparent
" uncomfortable excitement. seize the short
| swords that dansle around their heels and deal
terrible blows to the right and left; or if the
supposed offender turns to flee. they shoot him
with unerrinS aim.
was an unwilling witness to fearful scene
in Monterey. A drunken American, ralIyiny
forth i'll pursuit of ''fun,' entered a house and
frightened IL woman, who screamed for the
police. Though he had done no actual damage
and il could not be proved that he had even
said an offensive word, the policemen flew
upon him with their swords. Attempting to
escape. he was brought down with shot. and
50 Httkctt anu DealcE InaJ ulcu next GAY.
To be sure, he had behaved badly.-hut no
| worse than thousands do .laily in the L. $.
who are punished at the most by Il fine and
thirty days." yet there was no protest against
such hish-handed punishment. and nothing
was ever said, to my knowledge, on the part
of the murdered American.
The night policeman brings to his post
lantern and blanket. The former he puts in
the middle of the street, and all carriages are
compelled to keep to the right of the row OF
llIlt l,i,,l
| from one end of the street to the other. SO
long as people are passing, he stands at the
corner, alert but motionie>S, rs by day. In
those later hours. when hurryin" footballs
| and rolling carriages are no longer heard, and
all the world Is supposed to be asleep. he re-
tires TO some neighboring doorway, wraps his
blanket around him. and lies down to pleasant
| dreams. Then it is best to b" safely housed.
unless bent yourself on murder or highway
| robbery. You may stumble over the wearicd
| guardian of the peace, you may shake him OF
| step upon him without producing the slightest
! impression; or. partially awakened at last, he
is quite likely to shoot the victim as the
| thief, or to bring them both down together
with his ready sword.
Policemen are remarkably numerous in
Mexico, on account of revolutions which are
| always to be apprehended; but. as all the win
| dows have prison-like gratings before them
| and all the doors are so enormously heavy hat
| they could not be knocked In without a cata-
| pult. as there are never any fires indoors to
| start ronflagrations, and most people in the
tropics retire early to arise before the lark and
| the morn-his lot is by no means an unhappy
| one.
The criminal classes in Mexico are among
| the most
| ACCOMPLISHED ARTISTS IN THEIR LINE
| to be found anywhere on the face of the earth
| and possess, moreover, Il marvellous power
| OF Stimulating innocence which enables them to
| impose upon the most increduous. They en-
ploy the latter faculty to great advantage in
| securing situations as servants, in which ca
pacity they find ample scope for their genius
If you detect them in thieving and discharge
| or punish them, their vindictiveness knows no
| bounds, and they will boldly threaten future
vengeance. Nor are they slow in concocting
schemes to that end with sundry gentlemen of
| the carrots or stlletto, Who-OutWardlly AS re-
| spectacle as anybody-prow the streets night
| ly in the interests of their employers.
The pleasant possibilities are that some fine
evening when you least expect it.-perhaps as
you are returning from the opera, humming a
favorlte morce0u, or revolving sweet plans
| for love Or lucrc, such fancies are dis
| PEELED by sudden rain of cudgels upon
your devoted head, or-worse yet-by the Keen
thrust of a ndbnja into the back of your best
| caW-hamner coat just between the shoulders
| III you are not killed outright and yell for the
police, the chances are ten to one (you being Il
foreiSner) that the assassins will assert in
voluble Spanish, that you attempted to murder
lncnl, anu the ponce VIII flnlSh what thew fail
| cd to accomplish.
| \ case illustrating the servant c. occurred
in this city not long ago. An American rcsid-
ing here discharged his porter for dishonesty
and denounced him to the police. The vindic-
| tive fellow watched his opportunity, and
gave the rendezvous to three of his pals in
| the doorway of his former masters house.
Not being known to the servant who succeed
ell HIM, he readily obtained admittancc under
preteXt of having a letter to .leIiver-and
when once inside the door the rest was easy
The master, fortunately for himself, was not
at home, but the new servant was murdered
and another fatally wounded The house was
| then overhauled and considerable sum in
money, jewels and silver, appropriated
| THE FEMALE DoMEsTICS
are even worse, from adding certain fraiIties
| of their own to all the reprehensible qualities
of the other sex. They are prone to admit
| secretly to the masters premises not only tine
| favored sweetheart. but occasionally a few
| cdbdlieros, his friends; and sometimes the fes-
| tive company conclude the entertai inment bv
numbering the Desdemona and robbing the
| house.
| As proof of the leniency with which crimes
and criminals are here regarded, it may be
stated that prominent and weI-known officer
| of the Mexican army was indicted for deliber-
| ately attempting to murder Il gentleman, near
| the city of Agnas Calientes In 1867. AT that
| time he was a peredero (the man who runs be-
| fore a traveller Oh horse back) and he, was en-
| ployed by a politician to remove a rival from
/ 10 natl fn1fr dol U1pc i'm